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What Bryson DeChambeau said about missing another Olympics before LIV Golf Nashville tournament

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What Bryson DeChambeau said about missing another Olympics before LIV Golf Nashville tournament

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Bryson DeChambeau said that when he left the PGA Tour two years ago to sign with LIV Golf, he believed there would be a clearer path toward qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

That hasn’t happened.

DeChambeau, a rapidly growing fan favorite who topped Rory McIlroy to win last week’s U.S. Open, didn’t qualify to play with the U.S. Olympic team in Paris because he didn’t have enough Official World Golf Ranking points.

LIV events don’t count toward OWGR points. 

“It’s disappointing, but I understand the decisions I made,” DeChambeau said during Wednesday’s media availability prior to LIV Golf’s Nashville event. “The way things have played out has not been necessarily perfectly according to plan. I’ve done my best up until now to give myself a chance according to the OWGR … Hopefully, 2028 will be a little different situation, and it will make it that much sweeter.”

DeChambeau thought either the PGA Tour and Saudia Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV, would have reached an agreement or LIV would have found a way for its players to get OWGR points by now.

“Yeah, either of those situations,” he said. “That’s kind of what I thought. It hasn’t worked out that way.”

LIV players were denied OWGR eligibility in 2023. They must earn points through the four majors — the U.S. Open, Masters, PGA Championship and British Open — or other international events.

As of Monday, DeChambeau was No. 10 in the OWGR despite playing just 10 OWGR-sanctioned events. He was behind U.S. Olympic team selections Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Xander Schauffele (No. 3), Wyndham Clark (No. 5) and Collin Morikawa (No. 7), who have each played at least 40 sanctioned events. 

More: What is LIV Golf Nashville 2024 purse, payout for tournament at The Grove?

The top 15 players in the OWGR are eligible for the Olympics, with a maximum of four players eligible from one country. Players outside the OWGR top 15 are eligible unless their country doesn’t have two or more players in the top 15. 

“It’s a question for the Americans in the room,” LIV golfer Jon Rahm said Wednesday. “Would you want to have somebody like Bryson on the team right now or not?”

Players who left the PGA Tour for LIV — like DeChambeau, who signed with LIV in 2022 for a reported $125 million — were suspended from playing PGA Tour events, which are eligible for OWGR points.

More: Is Bryson DeChambeau playing LIV Golf Nashville 2024? What to know about tickets, format

OWGR chairman Peter Dawson said the decision to deny points for LIV events boiled down to the league’s 54-hole, no-cut format, lack of player turnover, pathways to access and unwillingness to relegate players. Dawson also said there are conflicts of interest with LIV conducting a team and individual competition simultaneously.

The PGA Tour and the PIF announced a “framework agreement” in 2023 meant to unite their players in competition, but no formal agreement has been announced. 

This is DeChambeau’s second missed Olympic Games opportunity. He was selected to the U.S. team for the 2020 Tokyo Games but got COVID and couldn’t compete. He was left off last year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team that badly lost to Europe.

“It hurts,” DeChambeau said, “but you know what? There’s another (Olympics) four years later.” 

Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.

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